Step into my office…

Just as the subheading of my brand reads “Hand Crafted in Toronto”, all of my gowns are designed and produced out of my home studio and office in North York, Toronto, Canada. Today I thought I’d give you a peek into my home office to hopefully give you a better idea of how I operate!

My office space is where I meet my clients, as well as conduct all of my fittings. My studio is a separate space the floor below which almost always looks like a tornado of cut fabric and thread everywhere — which is why we’ll just be sticking to a peek of the office for now …

Part of why I love the custom made business versus the ready to wear business is being able to work one on one in an intimate setting with clients. This is why I chose to lean toward a more lounge style office as opposed to the typical large desk and opposite chairs set up.

When I receive an email inquiry, I try to help my client narrow down the silhouette and general fabrication for their gown via email. Once this is confirmed, I usually recommend we meet for an initial consultation at my home office. At this appointment we can go through the more specific details of the gown, including the different fabric options which I am able to show through swatches in person, so that the client can get a physical feel of it.

When the design is finalized and production begins, I always schedule one or two fittings with clients in case adjustments need to be made before the gown is clean finished. One of the corners of my office is equipped with three angled mirrors and pull out curtains, acting as a little change room nook for clients when they come in for fittings (shoutout to my dad for setting this up for me).

Once the gown is complete, clients come in for a final appointment where they try on their finished gown and are able to take it home. Some soon-to-be brides struggle with finding a place to store and hide their gown before the big day, especially as most are usually in the middle of moving in or out. I gladly offer the option of keeping your finished gown safe here in my office until a date closer to the wedding so there’s one less thing to worry about!

Due to the nature of the custom made business, I don’t carry a large amount of stock. However, I have various pieces from my mini collections Iglesia and Wild Rose readily available in the office. One of the reasons I invest time into producing mini collections is to display my personal style as a designer, and show clients the workmanship behind each dress. Women who come in for appointments also have the option of trying on these gowns to get ideas of different silhouettes and design details on their own bodies. Some of these pieces are also available for purchase through my sample sale!

When my family moved into this house, I made sure I got first dibs on picking which room I wanted for my office. While my mom thought this would have been the cutest bedroom because of its fireplace wall and large window, I thought it would be the perfect office for the same reasons.

By now, you might be thinking to yourself that the space looks awfully familiar. This might be because my office often doubles as my photo shoot space! You probably recognize the main fireplace wall from my terno shoot and Wild Rose sneak peek, as well as the opposite wall used as the backdrop for my Wild Rose lookbook shots. The muted colour palette of the whole space along with the large window supplying a great amount of sunlight makes the space perfect to shoot in!

Photo by Joshua Del Rosario

Photo by Hyungsik Jung

Photo by Joshua Del Rosario

A lot of people ask me if my goal is to have my own stand alone store front one day. This is something I’ve considered before, but again because I will never have a large amount of stock as a custom made dress business and because I’m almost always working only one on one with a client, I believe a home office and studio space are enough and perfect for me. I’m blessed to be able to have this space to work in right now (shoutout to my parents for sharing half of the house with me) and I hope to meet more of you here in the future!